Eminem to play in Wellington

Rap su­per­star Eminem has an­nounced he will play a mas­sive New Zealand show early next year, at Wellington’s West­pac Sta­dium.

The rap­per’s RAPTURE 2019 sta­dium tour fea­tures only one New Zealand date — Satur­day, March 2, and fans in the lower North Is­land will be pleased they are not miss­ing out on yet an­other huge in­ter­na­tional con­cert to Auck­land venues.

Eminem, whose real name is Mar­shall Mathers, is con­sid­ered one of the most pop­u­lar artists of re­cent years with New Zealand au­di­ences.

When the 15-time Grammy award win­ner and big­gest-sell­ing rap­per of all time dropped sur­prise al­bum Kamikaze unan­nounced in Au­gust this year it went straight to the top spot on the New Zealand Al­bums chart, be­com­ing the artist’s ninth chart-top­ping al­bum in this coun­try.

His stand-alone sin­gle Kill­shot also scored the high­est 24-hour YouTube de­but for a hip-hop video on its re­lease last month.

In 2014, the rap­per played his first ever New Zealand show at West­ern Springs in Auck­land, which was the sta­dium’s fastest ever sell­ing show and the largest au­di­ence at the venue since the 1980s, said Blackout Mu­sic’s Nancy Black­ler.

The Detroit-born mu­si­cian is renowned for his rapid-fire flow, ex­pan­sive phras­ing and acer­bic lyrics.

Tick­ets go on sale at 10am next Tues­day, Oc­to­ber 23 at www.tick­etek.co.nz.